The Ballad of Orange Grape, written by Muriel Rukeyser, is a poem describing a street scene in East Harlem. Instantly she draws the reader into the scene using descriptive language and guides you through the decaying neighborhood to a Frankfurters stand where the man running the stand pours an orange drink into a bin labeled as purple and pours a purple drink into a bin labeled as orange. The narrator noticing that sparks a philosophical debate with the man running the stand so that she can understand the meaning of his actions. This street scene is the authors way of questioning are use of language in binary system and how different words and phrases can convey a different meaning. As the poems begins, Muriel instantly thrusts the reader